Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention relates to actuators which are triggered directly by an intelligent operator and for which the decision to actuate is a choice of the operator.
Most such actuators require a well-defined physical action on the part of the operator to initiate actuation. Traditional wall-mount light switches work by an operator physically moving a lever to one position or another thereby connecting or disconnecting a circuit, and software based actuators have traditionally attempted to model the experience of the traditional actuators.
Most software based actuators triggered by pointing devices work as follows:
1. An actuator region exists on the screen. Example: an underlined link on an html page or a submit button on that same page.
2. The operator positions the target of pointing device (cursor), within the graphical region of the actuator causing a xe2x80x9crolloverxe2x80x9d event to occur.
3. In superior software, the cursor changes shape to reinforce the operator""s assumption that the graphical object under the cursor is indeed an actuator. Also in superior software, this xe2x80x9crolloverxe2x80x9d event causes additional text or graphic information to be displayed, typically on or around the actuator.
4. The operator presses a button (mouse down event) on the pointing device to indicate they want to activate the actuator. If a button were activated without the operator pressing the button, it would typically be considered a xe2x80x9cbugxe2x80x9d.
5. The actuator either actuates immediately, or, in superior software, changes appearance to indicate that the operator has pressed the button.
6. In the latter case, if the operator releases the button (mouse up event) while the cursor is still within the actuator, the actuator activates. If the operator moves the cursor out of the actuator""s region ok before releasing the button (mouse up event), the actuation is cancelled.
Recent touch-sensitive switches can be activated just by touching them. In both cases the actuation is immediate: a touch-sensitive switch would be regarded as defective if it did not activate immediately on touch.
Touch pads and touch screens on computers substitute a xe2x80x9ctappingxe2x80x9d action on the part of the operator for pressing the button, but the action is still a positive and deliberate physical one.
Some racing and first person point of view computer games use the cursor to control the direction of navigation. Moving the cursor to the top left of the screen causes the game world to immediately shift to the north-west, for example. Cursor movement from left to right can be used to control the steering wheel of an on-screen race car in a racing game. In such uses a delay between the positioning of the pointer and the turning of the steering wheel would be seen as a defect in the program.
The use of actuators pervades everything in our lives, and extensive work has gone into establishing rules for how actuators should work. Apple Computer""s xe2x80x9cHuman Interface Guidelinesxe2x80x9d have been instrumental in defining the state of the art in software control. Two quotes here summarize much of the prior art:
xe2x80x9cIn general, just moving the mouse changes nothing except the location, and possibly the shape, of the pointer. Pressing the mouse button indicates the intention to do something, and releasing the mouse button completes the action.xe2x80x9d
xe2x80x9cClicking has two components: pushing down on the mouse button and then quickly releasing it while the mouse remains stationary. (If the mouse moves between button down and button up, draggingxe2x80x94not clickingxe2x80x94is what happens.) Some uses of clicking are to select an object, to move an insertion point, to activate a button, and to turn on a control such as a checkbox. The effect of clicking should be immediate and evident. If the function of the click is to cause an action (such as clicking a button), the selection is made when the button is pressed, and the action takes place when the button is released.xe2x80x9d
But for all the pervasiveness of these actuators, they suffer from serious disadvantages:
1. Physical effort is required on the part of the operator to press and release a button or to tap on a touch-pad or touch-screen. At the extreme, clicking has been identified as a cause of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Handicapped operators are at an additional disadvantage.
2. The use of a click interface for actuators means that the click interface can not be used for other instructions. This is significant given the limited input bandwidth of most computer interfaces: i.e., the keyboard and the one or two-button mouse. The birth of the multi-button mouse can be seen as evidence of this need.
3. The physical task of clicking the button can unwittingly move the pointing device and cause the cursor to move out of the actuator""s region. It is instructional to watch a 4-year-old learn to use a mouse: they carefully position the mouse over the object they want to click on. They then move their little hand to the big mouse button. By the time they nudge the button down, they have moved the mouse and pushed the cursor off of the object they are trying to click! Even given the coordination of an adult, this conflict inherent in the design of the current majority of popular pointing devices limits the accuracy of mouse clicks and hence increases the minimum size of the actuator""s region.
4. Since the user must press down on a button and then release it, it makes sense for the software to be designed in such a way as to make the onscreen actions correspond to the physical actions. For this reason, many on-screen buttons appear to xe2x80x9cpress downxe2x80x9d when the mouse is pressed down on them. This adds an extra layer of complexity to the interface, and restricts the freedom of the designers from making actuators that more accurately model their true function and are more suggestive of the actuator""s result.
5. There is an inherent conflict between the good software design goal of providing feedback for all operator actions and between the goal of a clean simple interface. Feedback for the mouse down and mouse up events, the rollover of the actuator, and for the actuation itself is becomes more significant than the task at hand, i.e., actuation. Current actuator designers must make the unfortunate choice between either providing insufficient feedback for the operator""s action or overloading the operator""s senses by providing good feedback but thus distracting him or her from other more useful tasks such as anticipating the actuation results or gathering last minute information about the current state prior to actuation.
Definition: to xe2x80x9copt-outxe2x80x9d of something is to choose not to allow it to happen.
Definition: xe2x80x9copt-out time intervalxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9copt-out periodxe2x80x9d is the amount of time during which the operator can choose not to allow actuation.
Definition: xe2x80x9copting-outxe2x80x9d audio, visual, tactile or other sensory feedbackxe2x80x9d is feedback delivered to the operator when the operator chooses not to allow (opts out of) the actuation after having started the opt-out period.
The following excellent definition of xe2x80x9copt-outxe2x80x9d is published at http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/opt out/:
(1) type of program that assumes inclusion unless stated otherwise.
(2) to remove oneself from an opt-out program.
Additionally, the online dictionary: http://www-dictionary.com/search?q=opt+outandr=3 describes it as follows:
Phrasal Verb:
opt out Slang
To choose not to participate in something: xe2x80x9cgive individual schools the right to opt out of the local educational authorityxe2x80x9d (Newsweek).
It has become common for commercial interests to send a single email message, typically containing advertisements or promotional material, to thousands of recipients who have been placed on a mailing list often without their consent. The mailing list is termed an xe2x80x9copt-outxe2x80x9d mailing list if the recipients have some way of removing themselves from the list even though they may not have had any choice about their being placed on the list. This kind of a list is popular for the distributors of the email since it takes effort on the part of the user to get out of the list. In contrast, an opt-in list requires that the recipients initially request that they be added to the list.
The term xe2x80x9copt-outxe2x80x9d has been borrowed for the title of this invention to emphasize a feature of this actuator. Most actuator""s require clear and positive action on the part of the operator to initiate their action. Such actuators might reasonably be characterized as xe2x80x9copt-inxe2x80x9d because the operator must make take definitive action to fire them. This actuator could be correctly described as xe2x80x9copt-inxe2x80x9d as well, since the operator does have to take positive action to fire it. However, it is surprisingly easily to cock this actuator, and once cocked, it takes more effort to avoid firing it than it takes to let it fire. Hence the term xe2x80x9copt-outxe2x80x9d is used as an exaggerated statement about the difference between this and other actuators which, having more pronounced opt-in steps, do not feel obligated to provide an opt-out option.
Opt-out actuators signal their intention to activate, pause for a moment, and then in the absence of a negative (opt-out) signal from the operator to the contrary, activate.
In software, this is implemented as follows. The first three steps are as above:
1. An actuator region exists on the screen, as above.
2. The operator positions the pointing device, typically a mouse, within the graphical region of the actuator causing a xe2x80x9crolloverxe2x80x9d event to occur, as above.
3. The cursor changes shape to confirm the operator""s assumption or inform the operator that the graphical region which contains the target of the pointing device is indeed an actuator, as above.
But the next steps are new and different:
4. If the operator does not move the cursor out of the activator""s region within the amount of time it might take to casually pass the cursor over the region of actuation, the actuator is xe2x80x9ccockedxe2x80x9d but not fired and the operator is given feedback.
5. If, after receiving this feedback, the operator still does not move the cursor out of the activator""s region within a short but not insignificant amount of time which is at least as long as would be necessary for the operator to move the cursor out, the activator is activated.
Some of the objects and advantages of this invention include:
1. No effort is required on the part of the operator to activate the actuator other than entering the region of actuation with the pointing device and holding it there. Though some effort is required to opt-out of the activation, i.e., leaving the region of actuation, unlike traditional actuators, this work is xe2x80x9clessxe2x80x9d than the work required to activate a traditional actuator. In cases where the activation region is entered voluntarily and purposefully, as opposed to accidentally or unknowingly, this opt-out work is also more xe2x80x9cdeservedxe2x80x9d, since if the operator is not interested in the actuator, he or she would probably not have entered the region of actuation.
2. These actuators can coexist with other devices that do require and use clicks, thereby increasing the input bandwidth of the software or device. For example, clicking in a particular region of the screen might cause an avatar in an action game to throw a ball at a target in that region while simply choosing not to opt out of an actuator tied to that region might cause the avatar to move towards that part of the screen. Of course, the button could still be programmed cause the actuator to fire, allowing the operator to skip the wait for the timeout period to expire. But alternatively, using opt-out actuators could obviate the need for any mouse buttons. While I might not anticipate high sales of a zero-button mouse, it is possible to imagine their advantages in situations where the maintenance and cost of the mouse was an issue, such as perhaps in a museum exhibit.
3. Since there is no inherent conflict between holding the pointing device still and pressing the button, the accuracy of actuation can be raised and the minimum size of the actuator""s region can be decreased.
4. Since pressing a mouse button is not done, there is no intrinsic motivation to make the actuators look and feel like real world buttons which react to the mouse like real world buttons react to fingers, and no need to program and design things around this non-intrinsic model.
5. There is less distraction to the operator as there is no mouse down and mouse up related sensory feedback during the actuation. Since the moment of actuation is often a critical moment, the clearer the operator""s plate the better.